Welcome to the twenty-third Random Episode Review. Let’s take a look at what’s in store…

…

And it’s #22: “The Cutie Mark Chronicles.”

---

TECHNICAL SPECS:

Season: 1
Episode: 23
Written By: M. A. Larson
First Aired: April 15, 2011

SUMMARY:

After a failed attempt at zip-lining, the CMC are covered in tree sap and pine needles, but still without marks. This time, though, Apple Bloom has a plan: they should just ask the adults how they got their Cutie Marks. Scootaloo agrees, and suggests that they find Rainbow Dash, since she’s the coolest, most awesomest pony to ever live. Along the way, though, they keep bumping into the rest of the Mane 6, who all give their own stories for how they got their Cutie Marks.

Applejack didn’t want to spend her life on the farm, so she journeyed to the metropolitan city of Manehatten to live with her Aunt and Uncle Orange. The two socialites quickly began shaping Applejack up to be a member of the Manehatten elite, but alas, she couldn’t stand being in a world where ponies were too dumb to know what a rooster is and meals barely amounted to anything. And then one morning, a rainbow exploded across the sky, pointing in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Taking this as a sign, Applejack returned home to proudly work the farm, earning her Cutie Mark upon returning.

Fluttershy was the weakest flier in Summer Flight Camp, and judging from her body, probably older than the other foals in attendance. When the bullies from “Sonic Rainboom” made fun of her, though, Rainbow Dash stepped in to challenge them to a race. But just as they started, they unwittingly knocked Fluttershy off her cloud platform and sent her plummeting to her demise…until some butterflies saved her. Now exposed to the wonders of the ground, Fluttershy fell in love with the place…until a rainbow explosion caused the animals to freak out. Fortunately, she was able to communicate with them on another level, and her calming them down and making friends with them earned her a Cutie Mark.

Rarity was designing the costumes for her school play (which had something to do with food), but was never satisfied with the results. While frantically trying to make the outfits perfect, as well as despairing over her apparent lack of talent for fashion, her horn suddenly comes to life and drags her across Equestria to…A ROCK?! A rainbow explosion causes the rock to break open, revealing countless sparkly gems that Rarity uses to finish the costumes. That night, the play is a huge success, and Rarity earns her Cutie Mark.

As a filly, Twilight was enraptured by Princess Celestia raising the sun during the Summer Sun Celebration, which motivated her to begin studying magic like crazy. Her parents enrolled her in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but to get in, she had to pass an entrance exam involving a dragon egg. But during the test, Twilight is so stressed that she can’t remember any of her spells, and finally just gives up…until a rainbow explosion breaks her concentration, causing her magic to come to life and hatch the egg, thus giving birth to Spike. Unfortunately, the power doesn’t stop coming, and she quickly goes into magic overload, turning her parents into plants and growing Spike to giant size before being calmed down by Princess Celestia. Recognizing her raw power, Celestia offers her the chance to become her personal student, and Twilight very happily accepts, thus earning her Cutie Mark.

Pinkie Pie grew up on a rock farm just outside of Ponyville, where life was grey and meaningless. And then one day, a rainbow explosion created enough force to frizz her hair and part the clouds from the sky, revealing a beautiful blue sky and rainbow. Pinkie was so enamored with the beauty that she just couldn’t stop smiling, and wanted to share her joy with others. The next morning, she has her parents and sisters come into one of the silos, where she’s set up her first party. And after a few false starts where the family literally cannot smile they finally explode with joy and join the festivities, thus earning Pinkie her Cutie Mark. And that’s how Equestria was made!

Finally, the CMC track Rainbow Dash (and the others) to Sugar Cube Corner, where we get the final story. During the race, Rainbow Dash realized that she had a love of speed, but she loved winning even more. So when one of the races tried to pass her up, she bolted past so quickly that she caused the first Sonic Rainboom, leaving her a rainbow streak in the sky. When she looked back and saw what she had done, she was proud that her Cutie Mark appeared.

After her story, however, the others begin to compare notes and realize something: they all saw the Sonic Rainboom. In fact, if it hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have earned their Cutie Marks, and thus would have never met. They join in a group hug, repulsing Scootaloo…but not as much as the threat of a song. And in the end, Twilight sends her letter for the week, saying that best friends have a special connection before they even meet. And right at this moment, I get diabetes.

REVIEW:

“The Cutie Mark Chronicles” is one of the most atypical episodes of Friendship is Magic yet. While most of the series is composed of basic A-to-B stories, here we have six shorts focusing on the different characters, connected only by a framing device using the CMC. Even better, this is an “origin story” episode, detailing for us how each pony found their special talents and purposes in life. When I first saw the episode, that aspect alone was enough to make it one of the most interesting of the season. But now that I’m looking at it more critically, I can see some major structural flaws here.

This is the first Season One Crusaders episode we’ve encountered, so alas, we have the three doing nothing but obsessing over their missing butt tattoos. The opening zip-line bit is funny (although I wonder how Spike would know about this), and like all zip-lining, it ends in tears, pain, and tree sap. Still, I do like how this scene highlights each character’s (very basic) traits: Scootaloo is thrill-seeking but frustrated, Sweetie Belle wants to do something less dangerous, and Apple Bloom is the one who draws up the plan.

I also enjoyed Scootaloo trying to lead the others into looking for Rainbow Dash. When asked who the coolest pony in Ponyville is, each one says their older sister, which is one of those nice, general heartwarming bits. The scene shifts to the silly, though, when they peg Pinkie as being the fiercest pony around (although given how she behaves when you break a Pinkie Promise…), and gets even sillier when they say that Fluttershy is the best flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale. But in the end, they finally get the right pony, and set off to serve as the plot device tying all these tales together. Well, besides the other one…

From this point on, the episode is mostly just a bunch of vignettes, with the CMC only serving to shuffle us from one story to the next. So we’ll look at all six separately, in the order they are presented. Oh, and for the record, all the ponies are adorable as little fillies, so no needless d’awwwing allowed.

Applejack: This is by far my least favorite of the six, and while it does give some more definition to Applejack’s background, it’s also painfully dull. I like the visual design of Manehatten, even if the name makes me die a little inside, and of course there’s the obvious pun of her relatives being the Oranges. Nonetheless, most of the segment is spent on AJ trying to act like a socialite and realizing that it really isn’t her. The jokes are few and far between, with the only real comedic bits relying on the “rich people are dumb” trope to work. I didn’t even feel anything when AJ looked sadly over not being out there to buck apples; it’s not like she could, you know, tell the truth to her relatives. They seem fairly reasonable, all things considered.

There is one other thing that bugs me here, and that’s how Applejack gets her mark. She sees the rainbow appear and point to Ponyville, and that convinces her that she is destined to work the farm for the rest of her life. I…don’t see the correlation there. I’m sure someone in the comments will point it out, but for now, I’m just too dumb. Oh, and she was apparently younger than the CMC when she got hers, despite being the last in the class to do so. I guess fillies are maturing later these days…

Fluttershy: The first thing to strike me when watching this was just how different Fluttershy looks. In particular, she actually looks closer to an actual pony or horse than the rest of the foals do. The most common interpretation is that she’s just older than the rest of the campers. Still, she utterly fails at flying and gets laughed at by the junior versions of the bullies from “Sonic Rainboom,” which leads to Rainbow Dash making her big appearance. This is one of the things I enjoy about this episode; it sets up a clear relationship between some of the ponies from an early age, and thus makes their ensuing friendship much more plausible. What isn’t plausible is when Fluttershy gets knocked off and nopony bothers to try and help her. Seriously, you all have wings. Why isn’t anypony just diving down and catching the weakest flier in camp?

Anyway, she gets saved by butterflies, which prompts her to burst into song. And this one…is just meh, to be honest. Really, the actual meat of the story is when the animals are scared by the rainbow explosion (BTW, you can see Rainbow Dash just before she pulls off the Rainboom if you pause at the exact right moment) and Fluttershy calms them back down. It highlights her compassion and kindness, which is what makes up the backbone of her character.

Rarity: While the next story is my favorite, this one is the funniest. Little Rarity is just as dramatic and whiny as her adult self, only with a cuter voice. I liked that she is doing what she loves, but hasn’t gotten her mark yet because she hasn’t fully realized her potential. Fortunately, her magic kicks in, and the long scene of her being dragged along while looking utterly bored and frustrated is hilarious. And then we get her reaction when she meets her destiny:

And then the explosion happens, and we (and Rarity, it seems) realize what her magic was really doing: detecting the gems inside. Remember that Spike said in “Boast Busters” that most Unicorns only have a little bit of magic relating to their special talents? This here is more evidence of that; Rarity’s subconscious desires manifested themselves through her magic, causing her to be dragged along against her will until she found the gems. No telling how she got back in time to finish things, but in the end, she makes some great costumes and gets a Cutie Mark.

Two more things of note. First, one of the foals in the class play looks like a young Cheerilee. Second, Scootaloo’s reaction to this sums up why the CMC were so loved and loathed throughout the first season:

Twilight Sparkle: This is my favorite of the bunch, which of course means that almost everyone else will call it the worst. Not only do we learn that carnival rides exist (and are apparently part of the Summer Sun Celebration when it’s in Canterlot), but we get to see what motivated Twilight to become a scholar of magic in the first place: she witnessed Princess Celestia raise the sun, and was so enamored with the spectacle that she wanted to learn everything about magic. And sure enough, we see her reading through an entire library’s worth of books (Shining Armor is standing behind them probably), and even turn a page with her magic after some struggling. We’re introduced to her parents (her mom is based on G1 Twilight), and get to learn how she got to be Celestia’s student.

The entrance exam actually helps set up something the writers would (over)use in the second season: Twilight’s capacity for getting stressed out. Even from an early age, she’s shown herself to be capable of worrying herself to the point where she can’t even function anymore. And when she fails because of her nerves, she sadly apologizes for wasting everyone’s time. In other words, she’s me. And that’s never a good thing.

And then we get to her power surge. This moment is just…frightening. Sure, baby Spike is cute at first, but when the instructors are levitating, Twilight’s parents are plants, and the baby dragon’s now a full-grown monster, the out-of-control filly is suddenly a tad scarier. Fortunately, Celestia is on hand to instantly fix everything and take the stunned Twilight (seriously, I love her face here) in as her protégé. And all this is topped off with an absolutely adorkable scene.

M. Bison would be proud.

Pinkie Pie: Pinkie’s story is probably the most surprising, and in many ways it makes her character more depressing. Her family comes from a maybe-Amish group of rock farmers who wouldn’t know what joy is if it came up and bit them. (Mind you, I don’t know if they were intended to be Amish or if this is just the Internet freaking out again.) Little Pinkie’s straight mane and the drab colors of her hopeless world are just as depressing as the fact that they’re farming rocks. Usually the term “rock farm” refers to a farm that’s completely dead and impossible to grow anything on…which just makes it worse.

Still, that big smile she gives when she sees the rainbow is just so darn adorable, and her first party is one of my favorite scenes in the episode. She starts out so proud of her work, beaming with joy at the prospect of others beaming with joy. But then we get a good indication of just how miserable life on the farm in: her family is so dour that it takes them forever to smile. Pinkie’s downbeat reaction is pretty good foreshadowing for what happens to her two episodes from now, and also highlights just how much importance she places on her parties and making others happy.

Of course, the flashback then ends with present!Pinkie saying that’s how Equestria was made, seemingly implying that she made it up. Personally, I’m going to say that she was telling the truth, and her joke at the end was just her being Pinkie Pie. If something does come up and completely contradict this story, then things will change.

Rainbow Dash: Dash’s story is mostly nothing we haven’t seen up to this point. She already confirmed in “Call of the Cutie” that she got her mark after winning her first race. (Although the Hub ran a fake poll to determine which story they would use.) Furthermore, we know she pulled off the Sonic Rainboom once before the episode of the same name, and we’ve already seen what is obviously the Rainboom in the other stories. The story even opens right before Fluttershy was knocked off the clouds. Still, the visuals are nice.

And then we get to what REALLY bugs me about this episode, and what will make everyone in the comments jump down my throat. Everypony realizes that they got their Cutie Marks because of the Sonic Rainboom, which means that they were BFFs before they even met. Unfortunately, I must call this out for two reasons:

1. It’s a meaningless contrivance meant to further connect the stories outside of the CMC. There was no reason for Rainbow Dash to be the single most important in Equestria’s history just to tie together stories that didn’t need to be tied together at that point. Really, if Dash hadn’t caused the Sonic Rainboom, then nopony would have been able to stop Nightmare Moon, thereby dooming Equestria. Even worse, it implies that all friendships are predestined, which seems to fly in the face of the show’s general message about making and maintaining friendships through difficult times and trials.

2. The ending so overwrought that it turns my blood into syrup just watching it. The music, dialogue, and tone just drip with a forced sappiness and unwarranted level of glurge. Not that I hate happy, touching moments; on the contrary, I love them. But here, it just pushes things too far for me. Literally the only thing saving this is Scootaloo’s reaction:

And…

Man, I’m using a lot of videos today.

The moral continues this trend, and I can’t say I really liked it. It just feels so insincere and forced for a show that prides itself on being honest, straightforward, and taking its target audience seriously.

CONCLUSION:

Individually, many of these stories work on at least some level, and I would have loved to see them as full episodes in their own right. As a whole, though, “Cutie Mark Chronicles” is a miss for me. I find the idea of the episode more enjoyable than the final product, especially with the ending. I know a lot of people like this one, and I can see why, but for me, this one’s just not one of the show’s finest.

---

…I am so dead, aren't I?